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NATCHITOCHES, La. – HBU trailed by 15 in the second half before clamping down defensively, forcing 10 turnovers in the final 5:23 and holding Northwestern State scoreless to earn a big 76-69 road win in Southland Conference play on Thursday night in Prather Coliseum.
 
The score stayed close early on with a Brycen Long jumper giving the Huskies (8-13, 4-4 SLC) a 7-6 lead but Northwestern State (7-18, 3-5 SLC) scored the next eight points for a 14-7 advantage six minutes into the game. The Demons led by as many as eight, 20-12, before HBU answered with a run to bring it back to a three-point game, 24-21, with eight minutes to go.
 
The teams then traded buckets until Darius Lee and Tristan Moore scored consecutive baskets for the Huskies to make it a 30-29 ballgame under the five-minute mark. After a Zion Tordoff layup pulled HBU within 35-33, the Demons' Emareyon McDonald scored the final five points of the half to send HBU into the locker trailing 40-33 at the break.
 
Northwestern State came out in the second half and made its first three shots to extend its lead to 48-33 before Long knocked down a triple to stop the NSU run. The Demons pushed their lead as high as 15, 53-38, with 14:05 on the clock. From there, the Huskies began chipping away. Tordoff pulled HBU back to within 10 with 11:34 on the clock and Khristion Courseault brought it back to single digits on the Huskies' next possession, knocking down a three to make the score 56-49.
 
After NSU went back up by eight, 60-52, freshman Tristan Moore caught fire and scored the next eight points for the Huskies to cut the deficit to just one, 61-60, with more than eight minutes to play. The Huskies fell behind by six, 69-63, after a Larry Owens layup with 5:32 on the clock but didn't score the rest of the way. The Huskies forced 10 turnovers from that point on while keeping the Demons off the board with seven of those turnovers coming in the final 2:47 with HBU holding on to its lead.
 
A game after forcing Southeastern into 21 turnovers, HBU forced the Demons into 23 turnovers, their highest turnover total in SLC play. The Huskies committed just 12 turnovers. HBU finished the game shooting 41.9 percent (26-of-62) from the floor, 35 percent (7-of-20) from three and 73.9 percent (17-of-23) from the foul line. NSU led the battle of the boards, 39-36.
 
Lee led all players with 22 points, making 7-of-15 from the floor and 8-of-11 from the charity stripe. He also pulled down eight rebounds, had four assists and four steals. Courseault totaled 16 points, hitting 2-of-4 from deep and 4-of-9 overall. Long added 13 for the Huskies while Moore finished with 12 in 14 minutes off the bench. Deshon Proctor led the Huskies with 10 rebounds off the bench.
 
Next up for HBU is a trip across Louisiana to take on Southeastern in Hammond, La. on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 4:00 p.m.